Israeli Professor Yisrael (Robert) Aumann views the Innocents-for-Terrorists exchange as “crazy.” More on his views can be found here: “Nobel laureate on terrorist release deal: ‘We’re killing ourselves,’” by David Isaac, JNS, February 27, 2025:
Q: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the Gilad Shalit deal and now he’s making another Shalit deal. How do you explain that? Why isn’t he putting a stop to it?
A: [U.S. President Donald] Trump threatened. He said before he was sworn in that there’s going to be hell to pay if there’s no deal. This was generally interpreted as a threat to Hamas, but actually it may also have been a threat to Netanyahu.
Also, one of the main people on the negotiating team was the head of the Shabak [the Israel Security Agency], who is left wing.
Now this is changing, but maybe part of the problem was that the negotiating team was no good. But it’s a small part of the problem.
Q: If we know where these deals lead, why do we keep doing them?
A: It’s a post-Zionist tendency. They actually control what’s being done. They can throw out cases; laws that are passed by the Knesset. They’re in charge of the army. They’re in charge of the police. I won’t say that they’re totally running the country. But they have tentacles and that has a lot of practical effects.
Earlier I said I respect our enemy. But I don’t respect—I won’t call them the enemy—but the other side, the post-Zionists. If they don’t like it here, they should leave.
Professor Aumann thinks it was always a bad idea to engage in these lopsided exchanges. In order to free Gilad Shalit, 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released, of whom possibly 500 had been imprisoned for terrorism. And of that number, Israeli researchers have concluded that 82%, or 410, returned to terrorism.
How many Israelis were killed by those 410 terrorists? Fifty, one hundred, two hundred? Whatever the number — which could easily be arrived at by matching the names of terrorists who were released in the exchange for Shalit with the names of those who after the date of the Shalit exchange carried out successful terrorist attacks, and the number of victims killed in each attach, we would know exactly how many Israeli lives were lost because of that lopsided exchange. And right now, with 1,900 prisoners just exchanged for 33 Israelis, we can make an estimate — it won’t be insignificant — of how many Israelis will be murdered by the freed terrorists who return to their previous practice.
He says the deal was poorly negotiated, that any deal in the future should be strictly one-for-one — that is, one Palestinian prisoner for one Israeli hostage. That is the only way to disincentivize hostage taking. He also suggests that Israel might consider the death penalty for terrorists, so that there are fewer prisoners convicted of terrorist murders to be released, but he worries that this would reverse Israel’s longstanding policy of applying capital punishment only in cases of Nazi war criminals, as a way to distinguish their crimes from all others.
May students of Professor Aumann, well-versed in “de-incentivizing,” be on the negotiating team the next time Israel has to deal with terrorists who have taken its people captive.
Buraq says
Gaza was a festering sore for years, finally releasing its poison on October 7th. Israel should’ve dealt with the problem years before. Prevention is better than cure. Dead jihadists can’t take hostages!
carpediadem says
They tried and were stopped, often by the US.
somehistory says
Common sense has been absent from the beginning.
Imagine a team of hostage negotiators being called to deal with a bank robber. Each member gets his assignment, and one guy takes the lead.
The robber has twenty people in the bank and he is threatening to kill one after the other if his demands are not met. He’s highly strung, he’s impatient and he’s ready to go out, taking everyone with him.
Imagine: he wants to leave with bags of money; he wants his brothers and other criminals he knows about released from prison; and he wants a safe ride to the airport with a plane standing by to take him to any place he wishes to go.
The team finds that they can’t let any of this happen, but they want all of the hostages out alive.
Oh, what to do?
I was trained in hostage negotiation. The end result desired: all hostages out alive; all of the public stays safe; all of the police survive the ordeal….however long it takes; and the criminal stays alive too….if they can manage the rest and he doesn’t cause his own fatality.
But, no way does he get his brother and other criminals released; he doesn’t get any money, nor a ride and airfare paid.
this situation with Israel is not exactly the same. But similarities exist.. Authorities dealing with murderous criminals and lives are at risk.
Releasing hundreds…maybe a thousand or more…terrorists for the dead bodies of the hostages is not a winning strategy.
somehistory says
“Israel agrees on US plan for temporary ceasefire in Gaza”
“The office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday said Israel will adopt the proposal by the US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza for the Ramadan and Passover periods.
The PM’s office stated that on the first day of Witkoff’s proposal, half of the hostages held in Gaza, both alive and dead, will be released, adding that the remaining hostages will also be released after a permanent ceasefire was agreed.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-agrees-on-us-plan-for-temporary-ceasefire-in-gaza/ar-AA1A4h5X?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=7996e1063c2c46639e0afa721bf14ec1&ei=70
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I also think that Israel should add jihadists to the category of Nazis when it comes to the applicability of the death penalty. Sure, they don’t want the death penalty, for reasons that I in principle will never agree w/. But if they can have a carve-out for Nazis, that same carve-out should apply for jihadists as well, so that there aren’t future jihadists-for-hostage deals
No More Jombies says
👍🏻
Alkflaeda says
Agree – the Mufti of Jerusalem was an ally and supporter of Hitler, so there is clearly substantial alignment between the two groups.
Woody says
‘(…) Israel’s longstanding policy of applying capital punishment only in cases of Nazi war criminals, as a way to distinguish their crimes from all others.’ Duh… How many of them are still alive? If you’re born in 1945 you’re 80. In 1930 95. That means that you would be 15 in 1945. 1925? 100. Come on, what are we talking about? Mind you, I don’t disagree with the rule, but who’se there to punish?
Woody says
And what’s more, isn’t the mathematical equation hamas thug = nazi, in terms of antisemitism and (level of) violence?
Berlinah says
Trump and Netanyahu should build the Berlin Wall across the middle of Damascus, because half of the capital city is enough for a bearded villain.
skeptiker says
Ich war immer der Meinung, dass dieser Waffenstillstand mit den Terroristen falsch war. Israel wird vor aller Welt gedemütigt, wirken klein und erpressbar. Sich auf einen Deal einzulassen, wo die Terroristen, die das Land und die Juden vernichten wollen, ermordete Geiseln unter dem Jubel der muslimischen Bevölkerung im Austausch für die Freilassung ihrer Mörder, sieht für mich nicht nach einem Sieg der IDF über die Hamas aus. Ich weiß nicht, warum sich die israelische Führung derart zurückhaltend in Bezug auf die notwendige und endgültige Eliminierung der Terroristen sowie die Vertreibung der Gaza-Bewohner verhält, obwohl sie die volle Unterstützung aus Washington haben. Es gab aus Washington ein Ultimatum, was bis dato von den Islam-Faschisten ignoriert wird. Auf diese Drohung erfolgte keine angemessene Reaktion der israelischen Armee, sodass die Hamas weiterhin die Bedingungen diktieren kann und Israel wie der Bittsteller statt als Sieger dasteht. Für die Zukunft Israels sind das keine guten Signale, die an ihre und auch unsere Feinde ausgesendet werden.
NoJombies says
💯
The items aren’t in power.
Feiglin for PM!
NoJombies says
The people*
Alkflaeda says
The exchanges should be like for like – no way should Israel be exchanging live prisoners for dead hostages, as much as it comforts their families to have closure. And Israel should ask Hamas how many Israeli hostages they will exchange for the body of Yahya Sinwar.